Just coming out of a T junction with traffic lights at the end, lights turned amber, going too fast to stop, so casually, and just like normal went round the corner. A few seconds later saw blue lights in my rear mirror, wondered if they wanted to stop me, and then after a few secs, pulled over. Asked me to get out of the car (at 7.00 in the morning, when I was just wearing a t-shirt and a coat!!) so they could explain what I'd been done for :(. He said I went passed the traffic lights when they turned red (I think) :nono: - so I told him that I went passed them when they were amber, and could have just turned red.

 

So he said fine, started talking and said "you do not have to say anything, but if you fail to.....blurb", and then said he was writing down all the stuff I said, wrote down that "as I approached the traffic lights they were amber", and got me to sign something to say I said it. Just realised that was not the smartest idea :slap: (although I did see them turn amber, but was going too fast to stop), and now have the choice:

 

- Just pay the £60 fine, and get another 3 points (I think - is it 3 points for 'jumping traffic lights')

- Go to court which would take a few months and contest in there that I am innocent.

 

Just checked what the Highway code says and it says:

"AMBER means 'stop' at the stop line. You may go on only if the AMBER appears after you have crossed the stop line or are so close to it that to pull up might cause an accident."

 

Also, has anyone else here ever been to a magistrates for something similiar? Do you have to pay for lawyers, solicitors - can you just represent yourself / do you have to pay all the legal fees if you lose / can they increase the points or penalty charges? Any help or advice much appreciated. Think I got a few answers, but just in case.

 

As a point of note, when we was checking the colour of my car, he mistook my lovely bogee-coloured green car for a silver one :confused:

 

Also, is it after 3 years or 5 years, your points wipe out, cos if 3 then I just had another 6 months to go. Gggggrrrrrrrrrrr :nelson:

 

Sorry for the long post - A much miffed person :cry:

Like you said the highway code actually says Amber means stop.

You should have said you saw the light start to change but you was too close to the lights to brake safely behind the line.

 

Tought luck but looks like the pigs have nothing better to do.

 

Stuart

Why did he read you your rights? ill have a word with a copper freind tomorrow, i don't think thats standard practice

trouble is its the word of a scumbag lowlife against a fine upstanding member of society.

And they will believe the scumbag because he has a uniform :(

Sad to hear that mate, was in the same boat as you last march, was coming home at after 12 at night, approached the lights, they changed to red rather quickly so i stopper just over the line, almost as soon as i stopped the lights went back to green so i indicated and went round the corner to find a police car there, as soon as i went past the police car reversed and pulled me yards from my house, took me into their car and told me that i failed to correspond with the red light?? confused? i was!

so he gives me all my rights and gives me the same options as you, i was fuming and refused to pay, was gonna go to court over it, that was back in march, all i have done was hand in my insurance documents at the station and have not heard from them again! it was just an ordinary police car, the guy was a complete tosser, three of my mates were in my car and he said " sometimes when u have a car full of mates they will try to get u to do stupid things" yeh whatever!! sorry for the long rant, just thought i would share my experience! there was a younger cop in the passenger seat and i could tell that he thought it was utter b****x as well, they messed up my ticket as well, i was driving a fiat bravo and he wrote brava!

 

hope u resolve your problem mate!

Why did he read you your rights? ill have a word with a copper freind tomorrow, i don't think thats standard practice

 

 

I am confused about that. If you are under arrest you dont have to say anything, let alone sign anything, especially if it is sounding like a confession which what he said sounded like he did.

 

If they try to use that as evidence they cant. They will say that is a confession that you went through on amber but a confession has to be taken while under arrest and with witnesses, I am sure of it.

There was no obligation for you to sign anything.

 

I would contest the ticket if I was you. Get some legal advice I am sure the copper did not follow the law correctly and even the slightest thing was dodgy with it the whole thing will get dropped.

Yeh, def get legal advice, my dad know's a traffic copper and he even recommended that i protest it when i got done, the same guy that booked me also, fined a mate at work for sounding his horn, the time on the ticket was recorded at 11.02pm, which in my books is a tad harsh!

oh i forgot, when i got my ticket he gave me my rights but it def wasn't the "you have the right to remain silent......." it was similar though!

oh i forgot, when i got my ticket he gave me my rights but it def wasn't the "you have the right to remain silent......." it was similar though!

 

He didn't say you have the right to remain silent - but he said that other blurb - "you do not have to say anything, but if you fail to mention anything that you later rely on in court...." can't remember the rest. It's when I was just about to start arguing with him that he got a little bit peed of so deicded to say that. He wrote down (slightly reworded :slap: ) what I said - and then asked me to sign it so he "could not write down anything else after that".

 

Oh, this year in june will have been 2 years I had the points not 3 - doh :slap:

so he got the colour of your car wrong....Deffo contest it and point out your car colour when you have to write in why.

just a point that worked for my mate , say you where approaching the lights saw them change went to slow down but sneezed and by then you had no option but to carry on through , ever tried to stop yourself or keep your eyes open when you sneeze say you omitted to tell the porker this as you didnt think it was important ,

him screwing up the colour of the car makes his evidence inaccurate in court

a good solicitor would chew him up and spit him out

Ok, anything he said before he read you your rights cannot be used in a court of law,

 

and there is a chance it will get thrown out due to the mis written colour of the car

Running an amber light going red is still not a good idea though. It sounds like you have enough doubt on your side to get off / away with it. I'd bet all you end up with is a producer and a caution from the desk.

On the topic of scum. I am appearing on court on 3rd feb. Got caught doing 106mph. :slap: Think my car will be spending a few months in the garage. :cry:

Your points count against you for 3 years with effect to road traffic convictions and insurance weighting. However they don't get wiped from your license for 4 years.

 

Jonno.

so he got the colour of your car wrong....Deffo contest it and point out your car colour when you have to write in why.

 

:slap: aggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! I told him it was not silver, but it was green on the spot!! idiot me :slap: Anyway, that car failed it's MOT today (expires today!), so the green Micra goes to the scarpheap in the sky :cry: 4 years we had been together. :( Still at least tonight I can practise some handbrake turns and burn outs :D

Your points count against you for 3 years with effect to road traffic convictions and insurance weighting. However they don't get wiped from your license for 4 years.

 

Jonno.

Jonno, The points you get for each offence stay on your license (ie, count) for 4 yrs however they stay on and you must declare them for 5 yrs. If you accumilate more than 12 points in any given 3 yr period then it will ammount to a ban set out by the courts :nono:

 

With ref to the offence, if on the NIP (notice of intended prosicution) the colour of the car is wrong... :nono: do not point this out untill you are in court as this will sway your prosicution to the good :cool: (ie,it will be dropped)

Hope this helps you out ;)

Matt...Sgt C

Jonno, The points you get for each offence stay on your license (ie, count) for 4 yrs however they stay on and you must declare them for 5 yrs. If you accumilate more than 12 points in any given 3 yr period then it will ammount to a ban set out by the courts :nono:

 

 

The info supplied was from a Traffic Officer I phoned to make sure I wouldn't make a :smw: out of myself.

 

If he's wrong I want my poll tax back frankly :)

 

Jonno.

The info supplied was from a Traffic Officer I phoned to make sure I wouldn't make a :smw: out of myself.

 

If he's wrong I want my poll tax back frankly :)

 

Jonno.

:confused: Well the points on mine DVLA wont take off for 4 yrs and the info supplied was from my partner :o :o Who is a Copper....i know i know why a copper :slap:

Just for reference, points are removed from your licence by DVLA 4 years after the OFFENCE date for most cases. I got my sp50 removed 4 years to the day!!

 

But for drink driving (and dangerous possibly) it is from date of CONVICTION (it's 10 years for drink driving.)

 

Richard

Quote: http://www.dvla.gov.uk/drivers/endorsem.htm#1.%20Endorsement%20Guide

 

1. Endorsement Guide

Disqualifications, convictions and acceptance of fixed penalties payments in respect of driving offences are notified to DVLA by the courts. The details are entered on to the driver's record and the licence. In addition to paying a fine/fixed penalty the drivers licence will be endorsed with a penalty ranging from 3-11 points or a period of disqualification will be imposed, depending on the seriousness of the offence. Any driver who incurs 12 or more penalty points within a 3-year period faces automatic disqualification under the under "totting -up" system. Information on a driver's entitlement and endorsements are sent to courts and police on request.

 

Endorsements must remain on a licence for 11 years from date of conviction if the offence is :

 

drinking/drugs and driving (shown on the licence as DR10, DR20, DR30 and DR80).

 

causing death by careless driving whilst under the influence of drink/drugs (shown on the licence as CD40,CD50 and CD60).

 

causing death by careless driving, then failing to provide a specimen for analysis (shown on the licence as CD70).

 

or 4 years from date of conviction if the offence is as listed below :

 

reckless/dangerous driving (shown on the licence as DD40,DD60 and DD80),

 

offences resulting in disqualification.

 

disqualified from holding a full licence until a driving test has been passed.

 

or 4 years from the date of offence in all other cases.

 

Hope that clears it up ;)

With ref to the offence, if on the NIP (notice of intended prosicution) the colour of the car is wrong... :nono: do not point this out untill you are in court as this will sway your prosicution to the good :cool: (ie,it will be dropped)

Hope this helps you out ;)

Matt...Sgt C

 

Idiot me should not have pointed out that the car was green. That would have been my "get out of jail card".

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2105-974213,00.html

 

And it snowed last night too, so was not able to play with the car one last time. :cry:

Difficult to know what to do on an amber sometimes... I hammer the brakes on IF there's nothing behind me and IF it's not wet. I'll go through if braking hard enough to stop me would be dangerous and I can see it's clear. If it's a dead busy junction or totally unfamiliar I'd brake hard enough to stop -over- the line but out of traffic.

 

Problem is if you were approaching the lights at over the speed limit the plod could then argue it was dangerous to brake from your speed, so it's still your fault...

 

...but conversely when I was a kid Dad was stopped for braking too hard at the lights - which changed to amber - and there was nothing behind - and he wasn't speeding. Luckily the copper was a reasonable man so when Dad pointed out all of those things he relented.

 

Best of luck mate... but from your description of events it sounds like the plod was just a pillock. Sometimes the magistrate will say "frankly, Mr Plod, you're just a pillock." If you do contest it get someone to represent you... the courts tend to assume you're taking the piss if you represent yourself, and I imagine it would be hard not to get wound up / nervous and say something stupid anyway. I know I would.

 

I've contested two NIPs for speeding so far and had them dropped before getting to court. ;) (One 33 in a 30... honestly! :rolleyes: The other was clearly bobbins - on a SPECS and allegedly the average was 70mph in a 60. Bit unlikely given I was sitting in a stream of artics limited to 56mph - and they KNOW that because they'll have the regs of what went through before or after. I contested it 5 months ago and haven't heard anything back yet.)

You could say that there was a car behind and you thought it safer to go through than brake hard and cause an accident. You are allowed some leeway on that count.

You could say that there was a car behind and you thought it safer to go through than brake hard and cause an accident. You are allowed some leeway on that count.

 

I was probally gonna use that excuse in court - but I can't remember if the police man was behind me or not :slap: . Don't think so, but I have the memory of a goldfish. Does anyone know if you get a criminal record if you lose by the way?

This is a motoring traffic offence and no you dont get a criminal record, just might get some points and a fine..:slap: